The Ocean Won't Die But We Might: Indigenous Knowledge, Ocean Health & Youth Leadership with Bodhi Patil

The ocean is dying. Do we have the answers?

In this episode of We Need to Act, Sara Rego speaks with Bodhi Patil, ocean guardian, founder of Inner Light and co-founder of Ocean Uprise.

The ocean produces roughly half the oxygen we breathe and absorbs nearly a third of the CO2 we emit. And yet it remains one of the least understood and least protected systems on the planet. The people who have always known how to protect it — Indigenous communities and local guardians — are still the least invested in.

Bodhi Patil has been fighting for the ocean since he was twelve years old. In this conversation, he explains what it will actually take to heal it.

In this conversation, we explore:

• The connection between ocean health and human health
• Why Indigenous and local communities hold the answers we've been overlooking
• Inner resilience as a foundation for ocean and climate resilience
• The role of young people in ocean stewardship and governance
• Power, power transfer and who gets left out of climate solutions
• The work of Inner Light and its mission to support young and Indigenous ocean guardians
• What it means to be an ocean guardian in 2024

Bodhi's message is clear: "The ocean isn't gonna die. It's all of us that will first perish before the ocean ever dies."

And his challenge to all of us: "The biggest opportunity we have to restore our planet is with the people and places that we've left out the most historically."

Find more about Bodhi's work here: https://www.bodhipatil.com/

🎙️ We Need to Act is a not-for-profit podcast about the stories, experiences and ideas that can help us find our way back to nature, to ourselves and to one another.